


Gasping for Air

by harvestleaves



Series: Take My Breath Away [3]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Asthma, Buck is stubborn, Eddie is worried, Gen, M/M, Mild Language, Pre-Relationship, Swearing, wildfire season
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-02-23 13:22:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23712181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harvestleaves/pseuds/harvestleaves
Summary: This is a prequel to Bronchitis, so it’s the asthma attack Eddie mentions in the fic.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley & Bobby Nash, Evan “Buck” Buckley & Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Evan “Buck” Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Series: Take My Breath Away [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1528247
Comments: 2
Kudos: 117





	Gasping for Air

Wildfire season. Buck fucking hated it, and not just because of the extra workload that was piled onto every station. He hated it because without fail, it was the one thing that could always make his asthma flare-up. The smoke and debris tainting the already disgusting smog of LA would make him cough and wheeze, and his inhaler was practically glued to his hip during that time.

Now, Bobby was usually good about remembering Buck’s condition and would have the blond stay back at the firehouse working on mundane office tasks. But on the particular Wednesday morning that Eddie was pretty sure he was never going to forget, they were called out to Venice Beach where a restaurant fire had just occurred.

“Buck, you and Eddie are going to be getting the remaining victims out of the restaurant, Chim, Hen and I are going to be helping with the ones that are already outside.”

Buck nodded when he heard Bobby’s words, grimacing as he tugged on his gear. There was a slight wheeze that left his lips when he was done and he had to lean slightly against the truck before he hoisted himself in. He sent Eddie a glare when the other man shot him a concerned look and turned to face forward as they started to drive off, ignoring the other. Or at least, he tried to ignore Eddie, but it was impossible when the other was nudging his shoulder.

“Buck? Hey, you okay? You seem a little off.”

Eddie gently settled his hand on Buck’s shoulder as he studied the blond’s face. Buck was paler than normal, with dark circles under his eyes and his shoulders were heaving as he took slightly strained breaths. He could also hear a distinct wheeze trailing each of the others exhales as his hand was finally shoved away.

“I’m fine. Let’s focus on the fire and not me,” Buck grumbled once he’d shoved Eddie’s hand away and crossed his arms over his chest, reaching up to rub at a sore spot on his sternum as he did so. The tightness in his chest was uncomfortable and he had a feeling that Maddie would be yelling at him if she knew that he was ignoring his asthma symptoms.

“Hey, talk to me. I can tell something is wrong, you know I’m a trained paramedic.”

“Eddie. I said. Drop it.”

Eddie flinched slightly at Buck’s sharp tone of voice and narrowed his gaze, eyes flickering to Bobby, who was studying Buck’s movements after talking to the other firefighters on the scene.

“I think Eddie might be right, you should probably sit this one out Buck.” Bobby made sure to keep his voice gentle and nonjudgemental as he watched the younger man strain to breathe.

“I’m a grown-ass adult. Now let's just focus on the damn fire,” Buck huffed as they rolled to a stop and pushed himself out of the truck to make his way towards the nearest officer to find out the situation.

Eddie sighed as he watched Buck’s back and groaned softly, knowing the other was being a complete idiot, but he didn’t quite know the other well enough yet to call him out on working sick. He was just going to have to keep an eye on the blond since it was clear that the other man didn’t seem to take very good care of himself.

“Should we try and get him to back down?”

Bobby turned his head at Eddie’s words and let out a heavy sigh before nodding. “He’s going to give himself an asthma attack if he goes into that fire.”

“Wait, he’s got _asthma_? Why the fuck did you let him out of the firehouse today?” Eddie was suddenly livid when he heard Bobby’s words, rounding on the captain in surprise, finding himself clenching his fists to keep the sudden rise in his anger at bay.

“Hey, it’s been hectic with all the wildfires going on, It must have just slipped my mind. I’ll go tell him to stay back at the truck,” Bobby promised, holding his hands up defensively as he watched the anger fill up Eddie, surprised that the newest recruit seemed to have a soft spot for Buck.

Quickly jogging after Buck, Bobby settled a hand firmly on the younger man’s shoulder before he pointed back at the fire truck with a shake of his head.

“S-seriously Cap? You’re benching me?”

“Yes, Buck. Eddie is right, I should’ve remembered your condition. The last thing we need is to have one of our own down,” Bobby frowned as he pointed back towards the truck. “You can help Hen and Chim with first aid. I’ll go with Eddie.”

“No. I’m going in. I can’t let you guys go in a man down,” Buck stated firmly as he crossed his arms over his chest, leveling a glare at his boss.

“It wasn’t a suggestion Buck, it’s an order,” Bobby stated with another nod to Chimney and Hen, studying Buck with wary eyes as the other finally submitted and turned to leave.

Buck’s shoulders slumped at Bobby’s words, trying to stifle a round of coughs that finally started to slip out, the smoke from the fire not helping as the coughs had him double over.

“Woah, sit down Buck. Do you have your inhaler with you?”

Buck dug into his jacket pocket for the object and let out a wheezy whimper when he came up empty-handed before shaking his head at Bobby, vaguely hearing Eddie call out for their teammates as a gentle hand landed on his shoulder.

Looking up after Eddie had guided him to sit down, his eyes locked with Eddie’s brown ones as the other crouched down in front of him, taking an oxygen mask from Hen to hold up to Buck’s face.

“Take slow, deep breaths,” Eddie said firmly as he moved to check Buck’s pulse, knowing it was going to be racing from his panic as he watched Buck gasp for breaths that just weren’t coming to him.

“You’re panicking. You need to calm down before you pass out,” Eddie said, dropping his voice to a more commanding tone as Hen replaced the oxygen mask with a nebulizer one.

Eddie let out a sigh of relief when the fear seemed to melt from Buck’s eyes as he gasped in the medicine, his wheezing easing up just the slightest before he reached out for Eddie’s hand.

“Fuck. You scared the shit out of me Buck. Out of all of us,” Eddie choked out, finally realizing that he’d shed a few tears from watching his best friend almost die in front of his eyes.

“I guess you took my breath away,” Buck wheezed out with a wink to Eddie.

“Was that a pick-up line?! Of all the times to...you’re ridiculous.”

“This means I win the bet. So pay up,” Hen grinned to Bobby and Chimney as Chimney glared from Buck’s other side, smacking Buck on the back of the head.

“You couldn’t have waited just one more week to confess your feelings? I almost won,” Chimney whined with a glare before Eddie punched him in the arm.

“You two were betting on us? Is there really nothing better for you all to do?” Eddie groaned as he rolled his eyes.

“I guess not. Let’s get Buck to the hospital. Eddie, you’re going with him, no arguments,” Bobby stated, smiling at how content Eddie and Buck were despite all the commotion that had just occurred.

**Author's Note:**

> If you have any prompts, you can submit them to my [tumblr](https://harvestleaves.tumblr.com).


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